The Nature of Nobody
by Ano-chan
Summary: A lost world, the abandonment of light, and all to lead you is a false reminder of all that is left of your past.
1. Chapter 1

Here we go, a new fic for Kingdom hearts! Hope it is enjoyable! And I don't own this franchise.

* * *

A dark room sat silently in the night, the only noise being the muffled breathing from the sole inhabitant sleeping in a comfortable bed. A tiny digital clock was the only source of light, displaying the red numbers 6:29. The quilt tranquility was shattered was the clock ticked forward to 6:30.

"Good morning!" the clock shouted in an annoyingly enthusiastic voice, "it's gonna be a beautiful day so get you laz-" the alarm was abruptly cut off as a hand shot out from the bed and slapped the snooze button. Groaning, the person slowly rolled over in the bed, reaching up and pressing the light switch, flooding the room with harsh light. Squinting, they pulled themselves out of bed, shuffling over to the door. Heading out to a dark hallway they finally reached the bathroom and turned on the light, staring into the mirror.

The face of a very tired teenaged girl stared back at her. Her long black hair splayed about in a disorganized fashion while her brown eyes seemed to be forcing themselves open. The normal look for a school morning. She spent a few more seconds examining the face in the mirror, it certainly wasn't model worthy, but she was happy of it. Turning away from the reflection, she began the monotonous procedure of getting ready for school.

After a quick shower and a furious tussle with a brush, she emerged from the bathroom, her hair flowing smoothly down her back, and her pajamas gone, replaced by a pair of casual jeans and a red t-shirt. She began heading down the hallway again, not even bothering to turning on the light; she was so used to the path, and headed up the stairs at the end. Entering the kitchen, she wasn't surprised to be met by silence, both of her parents had to head into work early. She prepared an easy breakfast, cold cereal, which was also eaten in silence. Such a huge house, yet it was full of nothing, the thought passed through her mind, a funny irony.

Finally, she left the house, heading towards her school, a place that felt more like home than the empty building she was leaving behind.

* * *

"Morning Rui!" the overly cheerful voice cut through her morning haze as she entered the main building of the school, turning her head she was greeted by the smiling face of Kyle, his thick cut short, framing his face. Rui wouldn't call him a friend, she wouldn't see him if he didn't greet her in the morning every few days, yet there was something about his zealous attitude that always managed to bring a smile to her face.

"Morning Kyle," she replied, grinning back, "got any god pictures today?" she asked, indicating the camera around his neck. Kyle always had it with him, taking pictures of anything he found interesting.

"Actually, yeah, come one, I'll show you," seeing little else to do before school started, Rui followed him back outside, "here it is," he announced, waving his arm towards a planter situated directly in front of the building, in it rested a tiny tree.

"That's it?" Rui asked, confused, it didn't look that monumental, "just a tree?"

"Not _just _a tree," replied Kyle, it was obvious he had expected the exact question, "it's a bonsai tree."

"Oh," realized Rui. As she looked closer she saw that branches of the tree had been shaped to run in intricate patterns, "aren't bonsai supposed to be really old or something?"

"Yeah, people say this tree was hundreds of years before the school was even built, but that's not the best part, come here," Kyle circled around motioning towards Rui to follow, "see, right here, there's a opening in the branches," slightly crouching down, Rui examined the branches and, looking closer, Rui did notice something. The branches curved and flowed around a empty space that resembled…

"It's a keyhole," Rui whispered to herself.

"Yeah, pretty cool huh?" Kyle said to her, "it must've taken years to shape the branches like that," as he finished a loud bell rang throughout the school grounds.

"There's the bell," Rui stated, "I'll see you later," she told him, turning and walking away.

"Yeah, see yah," he called back, and even without looking, Rui could imagine the smile on his face.

* * *

Rui had said goodbye to all of her friends and was now headed back home, mutely going over all of the information her teachers had forced on her during her classes, when the bonsai tree popped into her head. For some reason, it seemed important, yet she could not exactly place why. Maybe she would ask Kyle for some of his pictures later…

Finally pushing the thought from her mind, Rui turned her gaze to the ground and continued the walk back home.

* * *

Entering through the front door, she wasn't very surprised to be greeted by silence; her parents weren't usually home until later in the evening. Walking through the kitchen, she noticed the light on the phone was blinking, indicating that there was a message. Pushing the button, her mother's voice sounded through the kitchen.

"Sorry honey, it looks like I'm going to have to work late tonight, your father too, there should be some leftovers for you in the fridge, love you!" with that the message ended. Rui shrugged and began pulling her homework out of her backpack; this wasn't the first night this had happened, though it was nice to get a message, on some nights her parents forgot to cal at all, though she had learned to stop worrying over such things.

Putting her mind to the work, the time slowly passed as sun set outside. Looking up from the work Rui saw that the first stars had began to appear in the sky. She had always enjoyed looking at them, the distant worlds in the sky. Suddenly, her gaze shifted as she heard a noise, like something shuffling across the floor. Her eyes fell up the path of shadows in the hallway moving cautiously towards it, she couldn't find anything. Shrugging it off as nothing, Rui returned to the table, her gaze once more reaching skywards. But this time, something new caught her attention. She shook her head, sure that she was mistaken, but no, the sky was now one star darker. Rui shook her head, she must be tired, this day was getting weirder and weirder. Deciding to call it a night, she headed back downstairs, feeling her way through the darkness, and collapsed gratefully into her bed. She fell asleep, hoping the next day would be better.

In this world, that day would never come…

* * *

Rui awoke, afraid, yet she did not know why. There was no light in her room, not even the subtle red glow from her clock. She quickly got out of bed, her bare feet rubbing the soft carpet of her room. As she headed into the dark hallway, something seemed very wrong. Normally, she had no problem with the dark, but now…it almost felt like it was staring back at her. Hurrying up the stairs she managed to reach a window. She could barely see the outside from the stars feeble light, but she didn't like what she saw. A terrible storm was brewing outside, great gales of wind blasted against the glass, and torrents of rain battered the ground. Taking it all in, the image of the bonsai tree suddenly came to mind, and the need to go to it.

Not understanding why she was doing it, Rui quickly slipped on her shoes and headed outside. Once outside she was amazed to see how dark it seemed, the pathway seemed to disappear a few feet in front of her, and to the side of her…it almost seemed like nothing but darkness was there. Her mind seemed to blank as she began running down the pathway towards the school, and strangely, it seemed like it took no time at all before she was standing in front of the bonsai tree.

Soaked to the skin, Rui stood alone before the tree, and looking around, she saw that that was all there was. The pedestal with tree, and nothing else, the school had disappeared in the darkness. Cold and afraid, Rui stood alone, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, something began to come from the darkness. Yellow eyes blinked on ink-black bodies. They flowed forward in a mass of blackness, intent on only devouring. Rui backed off, unsure of what to do, but she had nowhere to run. The shadows had surrounded her and the tree. Back into a corner, she flailed out her arms in a feeble attempt to ward the creatures off. Her hands passed through them like air, leaving a cold, eerie feeling on her hands. However, it didn't seem that they were interested in her. They flowed around her, towards the tree. One lone creature reached a sharp-clawed hand towards the branches. Suddenly, the keyhole shape in the branches began glowing with a golden light. Rui could only watch in a stunned wonder as the creatures all paused at the powerful light. The shadow at the tree waited for a moment, then shoved it's claw through the keyhole.

A massive burst of darkness flowed out, extinguishing the light and engulfing the creatures. The wave began flowing towards Rui, and there was nothing she could do. Staring it down, the wave engulfed her, tendrils of the darkness wrapping around her limbs, seeking to pull her away. As the wave reached her head, Rui thought she heard something, a voice, calling out to her.

"Rui!" it cried, it's voice full of anguish. The shouted quickly faded as Rui was engulfed, lost to the darkness…

* * *

Sorry if this seems too similar to the beginning of the first game, don't worry the story will most certainly diverge in later chapters. Please R&R.


	2. Chapter 2

Yay! It's done, it only took several months…hah, sorry, I was rather occupied with many other things, please read and enjoy.

* * *

For a time, all Rui knew was darkness. Deaf, dumb, and blind, she tumbled inside out and upside down, insignificant and unremarkable within the vast nothingness. For a heartbeat she struggled, and for another, and another. There was a roaring about her head, whether it was her imagination or her screams for help, she could not tell. Finally, she quit struggling, quit thinking all together, it was simply too tiring. Finally, she closed her eyes, shutting herself off from everything.

"Rui…" a voice, sounding like it was inside of her head, called out to her, it seemed sad, desperate, "Rui, wake up…" hearing it, Rui struggled, and found that she could breath. The darkness was no longer around her, suffocating her.

"Rui, wake up," the voice repeated, it sounded the same, but this one was devoid of the sadness from the first call, this sounded blank, uncaring, "open your eyes." Seeing nothing else to do, Rui obeyed and opened them.

She was greeted by a world of shadows, but not angry and stifling, like what had consumed her in front of the school, they seemed like regular shadows, calm and uncaring.

"You're awake," someone spoke behind her, quickly turning her head, Rui's eyes widened in shock as she found herself facing Kyle, looking just as he did when she last saw him at school.

"Kyle! What…how…where are we? How did we get here?" she finally managed to get out, pushing off the ground to stand up, her legs shaky and uneasy. She immediately wrapped her arms around her chest, this place was freezing, it seemed to draw more than just body heat from you.

"I have no idea," Kyle replied uneasily, looking around at the blank surroundings, absentmindedly rubbing his arms, "all I remember is darkness, and then I was here, next to you, I thought you would never wake up…" they both stared at each other, a blank silence extending between them.

"So…what are we supposed to do?" Rui finally asked, "how are we going to get out of here, get back home?"

"Rui I…" Kyle began, sounding nervous, "I don't think we have a home to go back to. I mean, look around us, this place feels like…like a graveyard…" Rui simply stared, how could she not have realized…she had seen everything around her consumed…she bowed her head, feeling the sting as tears began to well from her eyes.

"Wait…then are we…" Rui somehow managed to say, her voice small and pathetic.

"What? No!" Kyle quickly responded, shaking his head, obviously trying to bring her spirits up, "death…you…we would know it, but I think…I know…our world is dead. But we're still here, so let's go, if we keep walking, we might be able to find something, we can't give up," he offered Rui his hand, and she silently took it. Together, they ventured through the darkness.

* * *

They had been walking for what seemed like hours, yet nothing had changed, the darkness still surrounded them, a quiet oppressive force. Rui felt like collapsing out of desperation, but Kyle showed no such feeling. He continued forward, pulling her along, his face formed into a mask of fierce determination, almost as if he knew what he was searching for.

"Look," Kyle stated, pointing off in the distance. Following his gaze, Rui saw what had caught his attention. It looked, like a portal…a portal of swirling tendrils of darkness. Seeing it, Rui shied away, it reminded her too much of what had taken her away from home.

"Kyle…I don't think that's going to help us…" she said shyly, the memory of floating in nothing was still fresh in her mind.

"Rui…it's the only thing we've seen here, if it's our only chance, then we should take it, come on," he smiled to reassure her, and Rui help but feel a little better, yet, something didn't seem right…it was almost…

"Let's go," said Kyle, breaking Rui's train of thought as he grabbed her hand. Without a moment's hesitation, he plunged into the portal, Rui following behind. As they entered, the darkness seemed to reach towards them, tendrils spiraling toward them, looking almost hungry. Yet they stopped before grabbing them. They seemed repelled by some power, and then moved away revealing something resembling a pathway. They flew along the path, propelled by an unknown force, and at the end, Rui spied something, was it light? It seemed so alien after being around darkness for so long. Reaching the light, it engulfed them, and she was blinded.

Blinking the spots from her eyes, Rui quickly took in her new surroundings. The place seemed far too…normal, after everything they've been through. They were lying in what looked like the middle of a cul-de-sac, the cold pavement they were on surrounded by a semi-circle of dark houses. Continuing to look around, Rui saw that her first observation wasn't entirely true. There were no lights on anywhere except for the streetlights that seemed randomly spaced throughout the street. A lone one stood above them, providing a pathetic, flickering light. Rui couldn't even see any stars in the sky, and there was no noise at all. Not even the sounds of wildlife, it was far too eerie, the only thing she could hear was her heart pounding in her ears.

"W-where are we?" she finally managed to get out of her mouth.

"Not home," Kyle answered, "we'll ask someone, come on," he immediately headed towards one of the dark houses.

"What are you doing? No one's in there," Rui asked, following behind him.

"Yes, there is," he told her simply, his voice stern. He reached the front door and began pounding on it with his fist, the sound echoing through the empty air, "open up please, we need help," no one answered, but Kyle continued to slam his fist against the door. Rui was just about to try to and stop him when the door opened, just a crack.

"Shut up!" a voice hissed, "you keep all this noise up and you're going to draw 'them' here," the voice tried to make itself sound angry, but it was obvious whoever was speaking was terrified.

"Then help us, we need to know where we are…we need to know what to do…I need…" he quickly stopped, turning to see if Rui had noticed, she had, but didn't understand…what did he need?

"Can't help you," the voice replied quickly, not noticing that Kyle had cut himself off, "go to _her_ house, end of the row, she'll do…something. Just leave me alone," with that the door eased closed with barely a whisper of sound.

"Well, I guess we should go, he said the end of the row," Rui offered to Kyle, he nodded and turned away from the door. But as he brought his gaze up he froze.

"Get behind me," he ordered, grabbing her and shoving her behind his back. Quickly turning around, Rui's eyes opened wide in terror. It was another black creature; it's yellow eyes staring quizzically at the both of them. Kyle continued to stand in front of Rui, staring the creature down. Finally, looking almost confused, it wandered away; it's strange feet making no sound on the hard ground.

"It…it didn't attack us," Rui observed, still slightly shaken.

"No…" Kyle agreed, sounding as confused as her, "come on, we need to see that person at the end of the row." He headed off, Rui falling in step behind him, constantly glancing around, afraid that the black creature would show up again. Finally they reached the house at the end, it showed no difference from the other houses other than that is was completely alone, no other houses were even remotely near it, simply a circle of empty grass. Kyle went up to the door, but as he was raising his fist to knock, the door opened wide, light from the inside of the house pouring out at them.

"Children? Of course, come inside then," a voice said from the doorway. Rui tried to identify the person, but she could only see a silhouette from the light in the house. Kyle warily headed in, Rui quickly behind him. As they stepped inside the door slammed shut behind them, making Rui jump. Looking around the room, she was amazed to see how…well…how normal it looked. If she were still at home, she would say she was at one of her friend's houses. They were standing in what looked a living room; there was a soft carpet with a couch, a fireplace built into the wall that heated the entire house.

"You going to stand in there forever?" the voice called from an empty doorway, it looked like it led to a kitchen. Rui headed towards the doorway, peering into the kitchen. She stopped, staring in shock, the room had a simple tile floor, a fridge, and a wooden table set in the middle, but what had startled her was the person sitting at the table. It was…her mother. Not the mother that was always off at meetings, the only outfit she ever seemed to wear being her business suit, but the mom she remembered from when she was little, the mom that used to wake her up every morning and tuck her in at night, the mom she actually knew.

"M-mom?" Rui asked, unsure of what to do, "what are you doing here, how did you-"

"Stop right there," her mother interrupted, "I'm as much your mother as this planet is your home. Now come in here and sit down, you look like you're about to faint." Rui complied and walked into the room, almost collapsing in an open chair, she hadn't realized just how tired she was.

"You too, I know you're out there," Kyle shyly appeared in the open doorway, but as his eyes fell on the woman at the table, they narrowed in confusion. Rui wondered if he saw her mother too…or maybe his own mother…whatever she was, Kyle never took his eyes off of her as he sat down.

"Okay, now that we're all comfortable, would anyone like to ask a question?" the woman resembling Rui's mother asked. The two just stared, no idea what to do.

"Looks like I'll start," the woman began, " 'Who are you?' Why that's an excellent question, but I think you'll find it more helpful to ask yourself that question."

"What are you talking about?" Kyle finally asked.

"You're planet was destroyed before you eyes, I think you should figure out what you are in this slightly-less-full ocean of stars," the woman's gaze seemed to pass over Rui and focus on Kyle.

"Wait," Rui interjected, "you said our planet was…destroyed. I saw it happen…saw those creatures…but how? How can you destroy a planet just like that?" The woman sighed, this could take awhile.

"Okay, here's the simple version, those creatures you saw, those are heartless, and they are born when a heart is consumed by darkness. After that, they constantly hunt for other hearts; perhaps to fill their now empty void, I don't know. The fact is, each planet has a powerful heart, and it is the primary goal of every heartless. But, there's only one way to get to the heart…" she trailed off, like she was waiting for the answer.

"A keyhole…" Rui muttered, remembering the bonsai tree and the single heartless that had crawled onto it.

"Right, most of the time, the inhabitants are consumed with the planet, but sometimes a few are powerful enough to escape." Her gaze fell back on Rui. Rui understood why, she certainly didn't feel powerful, yet somehow she was able to pull herself out of the void…

"Wait," Kyle began, "why…why are you telling us all of this? And how do you even know this?"

"I'm telling you…because you're the only thing here that has a chance of surviving…" she stood, looking out of a window into darkness, "the heartless are here, and they're going to win…"

"How do you know? Won't someone fight back?" Rui asked, the woman simply laughed, a harsh mocking laugh.

"You saw one of the people here, they're far too afraid and paranoid to do anything. As for how I know…" her hand went to a chain worn around her neck, "I'm far more than what I appear," pulling on the chain she revealed a golden locket. Looking closer, Rui saw a lock in it…a keyhole.

"You're…"

"The heart of this world…the heartless are coming for me…and I won't do anything to stop them."

* * *

Whoop! There you go, hopefully I'll get more than one review, though I kind of doubt it, thoughts on what will happen next? Ah well, see you next time!


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